meme monday

It’s often said that the best NBA athletes could easily transition to other sports and see great success. We all know that LeBron, being the freak of nature that he is, could have easily been a great NFL player. Wilt Chamberlain was great at athletics. But, a player who’s expertise in other sports is often greatly undervalued is Draymond Green.

A four-time NBA champion and four-time All-Defensive Team, Green is known for his physicality on the court. So much so that many call him a dirty player. Others say he missed his calling and should have been an MMA fighter. We just know that he’s provided some truly outlandish moments over the years, and we’re here to highlight them in this off-the-wall Draymond Green kick-and-hit extravaganza!

The Trademark Follow-Through Kick

In a career full of highlight MMAesque stuns, Green’s signature move has arguably been his follow-through kick. Whether he’s guarding his opponent or trying to get past them, Green always seems to pull off this move when he’s off balance of falling down.

What makes this move even more preposterous is that it’s obviously intentional, as his leg is always unnaturally up or stretched compared to the motion of the rest of his body. This has been Green’s trademark dirty play for most of his career, as you can find compilations of this as far back as 2016.

These prevalent shenanigans at the time were ridiculed not only in NBA circles but also in mainstream media in general. During this period, Jimmy Kimmel even made a skit based on them, which will never not be funny. 

Adding Punching and Stomping to His Repertoire

While Green’s been kicking almost his entire career, he also added hand work to his skillset, as he’s punched his fair share of people, especially in the latter part of his career. Of course, the most serious one and least funny is the Jordan Poole punch, which, many think, led to the demise of the Warriors’ season.

But, as you might know, Greene also punched another player in an actual game. This happened in late 2023 when Green blatantly swung at Nurkic, hitting him pretty hard with almost a “spinning elbow” type of move. 

While Nurkic didn’t respond on the court in any way, he had some hilarious comments at the press conference later, which perfectly encapsulated what we all think of Green’s moves. 

Even more bizarrely, Green also had a one-off stomping incident in which he jumped on Domantas Sabonis’ chest:

Chokehold That Would Make Khabib Proud

Although Green has said a million times he’s changed his ways, his perfectly executed chokehold technique shows that he might have been practicing some spicy moves that he still has to unveil. 

Like the previous stomp on Domantas Sabonis, this happened during the 22/23 NBA season, showing Green has truly changed his ways. By this, he changed from simply kicking people to “handling them” in more creative ways.

Read Next: Last Week’s Meme Mondays Edition

Featured image taken from YouTube.

Today’s NBA has a ton of boring coaches, but one thing is certain: Joe Mazzulla isn’t one of them. While he’s undoubtedly proving to be a great coach and has already won a championship, he’s left another significant imprint. 

Many NBA fans consider Joe to be, how do we put it subtly, a psycho. His direct answers, unorthodox approaches, and seemingly unhinged habits have made him a meme in the NBA community. So, in this week’s edition of Meme Mondays, we’ll highlight some of the most bonkers and hilarious moments Joe Mazzulla provided us with (so far).

The Town and Robbing Fenway

Joe Mazzulla’s love for Ben Afleck’s movie The Town has become a meme of its own. During his time as Celtics assistant, Joe would play The Town a few times per week while doing his post-game work. Along with The Dark Knight and Whiplash, this was his go-to choice that would help him get through his late-night work sessions.

While this is a bit unusual, it isn’t even the weirdest part. The movie had such an influence on the young coach that he often fantasized about heists and regularly quoted the movie.

In a recent podcast interview, he went a step further. He admitted that he recently went to Fenway and that he immediately started thinking about exit strategies. He said he thought he could probably get away with robbing Fenway and escaping without getting caught.

Now, most people who go to Fenway simply enjoy the games and indulge in overly expensive beer and food. But, staying true to what we can expect from him, Mazzulla thinks up the craziest things.

Living That Predator Lifestyle

Stepping it up a notch, Joe Mazzula reportedly showed predator-prey videos to his team before big games to show how they should bring their enemy to a standstill and dominate their opponents by working together as a team.

Most notably, he showed clips of killer whales working collectively to kill their prey and also played films of hyenas hunting down animals in a pack. Things like these only cement Joe’s reputation as a psycho coach and deepen the Celtics fans’ love for him. For us neutral observers, let’s just say we’re happy that he’s coaching a team with success instead of roaming the streets jobless.

Blocking Shots and Taking Names

Celtics fans love Mazzulla for the tenacity that he brings to the games. Many even jokingly suggest that he could suit up and give the team a few gritty minutes. And, to no surprise, we’ve seen Joe’s resolve on the court many times, such as this occasion when he tried to block Royce O’Neale:

What’s even more amusing is that Joe doesn’t only bring this mindset to games and against opponents. His own team has felt the intensity of the NBA’s most psycho coach in team practices. Here we can see the wild Joe Mazzulla specimen playing that Bad Boy Pistons defense in Celtics practice:

Considering that there are a few examples available to the public, we can only imagine how many other times Joe Mazzulla went ham in practice that, unfortunately, weren’t recorded for us to enjoy.

Of course, with the C’s winning their 18th NBA Championship in 2024, Mazzulla’s intense approach seems to be working. All we can hope is for his tenure in Boston to last so that his psychopathic mind can provide us with more gems. 

Read Next: Last Week’s Meme Mondays Edition

Featured image taken from YouTube.

Losses happen even to the best of teams. We all remember the epic 2005 Champions League final, the so-called Miracle of Istanbul, where AC Milan objectively bottled a 3-0 lead at halftime. Moreover, there have been many seasons where teams tragically lost league titles by dropping points on the last few matchdays.

That said, there seems to be one time that has made bottling their trademark sign. Always the bridesmaid and never the bride, Tottenham Hotspur has made their reputation for almost winning but coming up short in the end.

A Premier League Giant That Can’t Back It Up

Let me be clear right off the bat. Nobody is saying that Tottenham is on the level of Man United, City, Liverpool, or its two biggest London rivals, Arsenal and Chelsea. That said, after these five teams, the Spurs are undoubtedly the sixth-biggest team in the Premier League. 

They have been in the top tier for almost the entirety of their modern history and have a huge following, both domestically and abroad. In 2023, it was ranked as the ninth richest club in the world. That said, for a club of such size, Tottenham hasn’t really delivered anything, especially in the last half of the century.

Sure, the team has two First Division/Premier League titles, but the younger one is still over 60 years old. Moreover, the team hasn’t even won the FA Cup for more than 30 years. Still, it’s not that Tottenham hasn’t been in contention for many trophies, even some of the most prestigious ones in club football. It’s just that the team miraculously always fumbles up every opportunity in the end.

Stumbling In The Second Part Of The Season

In the past decade, the Spurs have gotten their fans’ hopes up several times, only to finish in their familiar position between third and sixth place. The original meme of Spurs bottling their Premier League season came about in the 2015-16 season. That year, the team went on a hot start and kept up the pace with Leicester City for most of the year.

However, a series of poor results in the final stretch prevented Tottenham from keeping up, and the team ended 11 points behind the unexpected champs. Spurs fans were devastated, unaware that this wasn’t an unfortunate ending but the start of a great bottling dynasty that still goes on.

Three years later, the Spurs again started the season swimmingly but stumbled as the year went on. In 2024, Ange Postecoglou brought on a more exciting style, and the team dominated the league at the start again. However, even Ange and his squad of underdogs couldn’t go against Tottenham’s DNA.

A Bottle Not Many Remember

Although the Tottenham squads of the 21st century provided many amusing bottle jobs, most fans probably don’t remember an old-school bottle job before social media. In 1987, Tottenham faced Coventry City in the FA Cup final. With a 7/7 record in the final before and facing a significantly weaker opponent, Tottenham were the heavy favorites.

However, the match was very tight and even went to extra time. In the 96th minute, Mabbutt scored an own goal that gave Coventry the win. Now, we’re not implying that this might have been the first Tottenham bottle job. But it sure was a result that can serve as a foundation for all Tottenham Hotspur bottling jobs that came after.

Was The 2019 Champions League Final a Bottle Job?

In 2019, the Spurs reached their first Champions League final and were set to play Liverpool. LFC was the favorite, but Tottenham fans could rightfully hope for a positive result. And credit where credit is due, this final certainly wasn’t a bottle job from the Spurs.

If anything, Tottenham delivered in the clutch several times on their way to the final. First, in the quarterfinals, the Spurs beat Manchester City 4-3 at Etihad to advance. In the semifinals, they turned around the game against Ajax in Amsterdam in the 96th minute. This performance is deemed one of the greatest Champions League comebacks. The Spurs were down 2-0 at the half and won 3-2 thanks to Lucas Moura’s hat-trick.

Then, in the final, they simply faced a better team. The Spurs conceded at the very start and the very end of the game and fell to Klopp’s inspired Liverpool team. For a team that has become somewhat of a meme for coming up short, the 2019 Champions League run was a memorable one that just had an unfortunate finale.

Read Next: Last Week’s Meme Mondays Edition

Featured image taken from YouTube.